Ana was rushing around her apartment trying to do a million things before Niall arrived.
She had to finish dinner, get ready, and conviently, her place was a mess.
She only had a handful of recipes she was confident making from memory, so she settled on chicken fajitas. The guacamole was made and in the fridge, everything was chopped and the tequila was in the freezer.
She was ridiculously nervous, her dad's words from earlier kept playing in her head.
"If you hurt him you'll end up hurting yourself too."
What did that even mean? They were just going on a few dates, they weren't planning their spring wedding! She ignored it as she rushed around to finish straightening up her apartment before getting ready. She tied her hair up and put her cell on the dock to play her music.
She had just finished putting the laundry her mother did over the weekend. So there was at least one up side to her mother babying her. She got out of laundry duty and most of the cleaning.
As soon as she had thrown on her jeans and top there was a knock on the door. It was fifteen minutes until Niall was supposed to be here and she hadn't started cooking yet. luckily her make up was still done, she let her hair down as she made her way to the door.
"You're early!" She whined as she let him in.
"Sorry? Hate being late, plus...my hotel was getting boring." He shrugged as he made his way in.
"I haven't even started cooking yet!" She pouted as the stood in the kitchen.
"Then I'll help you. what should I do?"
"Um...start doing the chicken and peppers while I do the rice? You like fajita right?"
"I do," he said walking to the stove, he stopped and put his hand on her hip to whisper in her ear, "you're cute when you pout like that." he said before kissing her on the cheek and moving on to start cooking leaving Ana there slightly flustered. Her heart was beating like crazy and she had that weird fluttery feeling in her stomach again and she still didn't know if she liked it or not.
She took a second to compose herself before grabbing the ingredients for her rice.
"So how was the studio?"
"Good. I didn't realize Mike was your dad. Him and your mom are back together?"
"Yup, apparently he is proposing. I also learned today I'm half Irish, so that's kind of cool."
"Nice, welcome to the club!" He laughed as he added more peppers and onions to the skillet on the stove.
They cooked side by side. She tried getting the details about the song they written today but she wasn't getting anything out of him.
"Okay lets see...two truths and a lie...I used to have braces...I auditioned for The Voice...or I've been arrested." He would never get this right.
"Alright...your dad is a genius in the studio so I think the lie is...you were arrested!"
"Nope, the audition was the lie. I had braces all through middle school, as if I wasn't awkward looking enough, and I was arrested two years ago. Megan and I ran into this girl I went to high school with and she said something about my mom having two kids from different fathers so I may have punched her...twice."
"Wow, smart, beautiful and a badass. Is there anything else I should know Miss Russo?"
"Only that this is going to be the best Spanish rice you've ever tasted." She said trying a bite. "Mmm here try it." She said blowing on some and moving the spoon over for Niall to taste.
"That's really good. Where'd you learn to cook?" He asked.
"Most of it was from my Nona. She's Italian so she cooks a lot of pasta. The other stuff was from cooking class in high school. Only have a few recipes I'm really good at though."
Ana mixes margaritas while Niall made their plates. They were so in sync. They moved around each other as if they knew where the other was moving to next without having to say it.
"So, typical Tuesday night, what would you be doing?"
"Well, now that my parents aren't here constantly I would have dinner, then watch Chicago Med and Chicago Fire and go to bed. Not really too exciting honestly."
"Well, I'm glad I get to be apart of your not exciting Tuesday night. I spent five years constantly doing something, its nice to just, chill, ya know."
"No," she smirked, "but I would imagine it would be nice to just, relax and not have to do something...Is it weird having so much free time?"
"Kind of. Having nice quiet nights in like this are nice but I try and fill my time. Writing, or playing...hanging out with me mates."
Settle down with me
Cover me up
Cuddle me in
"I love this song!"
"Come on." Niall said pulling her up from her small table.
"What are you doing?" She chuckled as Niall drug her into the living room and turned up the volume on the song.
"We're dancing." He smirked as he pulled her against him.
They swayed back and forth to the music as Niall sang softly in her ear.
Kiss me, like you wanna be loved, like you wanna be loved.
She let go of Niall's hand and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
She was sure he could feel her heart pounding against her chest. All of
A sudden Niall pulled away and grabbed her hand twirling her.
"You're pretty smooth Horan." She smirked as she settled her arms over his shoulders, playing with the hair on the back of his head.
"I try." He smiled back.
That damn fluttery feeling was back as she looked in his eyes. She looked down, overwhelmed by his stare as her heartbeat even faster.
With his one hand low on her back he brought the other up to lift her chin and move her hair that had fallen in her face.
He started to lean in, she closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers. The fluttering was in overdrive as Niall pulled her even closer, one hand on her hip and the other on her cheek.
Niall pulled back, looking at her face. Her eyes were still closed and her cheeks were slightly flushed as his forehead rested on hers.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Nobody had ever looked at her the way he was, not even Benny, and she liked how she was feeling. She closed her eyes and kissed him again, pulling him closer by his shirt. She liked the kiss, how it made her feel.
She had spent the last two months numb, just going through the motions of her life, but since she felt ran into Niall it was like she had started feeling again. The first time since she lost not just her baby, or her best friend, but herself, she felt alive.
